Lift for automobiles



Oct. 3, 1961 M. CHARPIGNY LIFT FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed June 16, 1959 M. CHARPIGNY United StatesPatent r 3,002,588 LIFT FOR AUTOMOBILES Marcel Charpigny, 40 Rue Erlanger, Paris 16, France Filed June 16, 1959, Ser. No; 820,812 Claims priority, application France June 23, 1958 a 2 Claims. (Cl; 187--,8.59)

This invention relates to a lift for automobiles and the like, and more particularly to an improved lift of the type having four pillars resting on level ground without being permanently attached thereto.

Various types of lifts are used for certain operations necessary for the maintenance of automobiles, such as oil changes and lubrication, and for the reparation of parts positioned under the chassis or the body of the automobile. Such lifts maybe of the type comprising one or two lifting columns, or of the type comprising four rectangularly disposed pillars.

Once the automobile has been lifted by means of a lift of the column type, it may be desirable for certain types of repairs to increase the accessibility of parts located under the chassis or the body of the automobile. To achieve this, it has been proposed to equip these lifts with arms provided with supports and articulated on a small platform attached to the top of each lifting column, so as to make it possible to bring the supports in contact with those parts of the chassis or of the body of an automobile which are most suitable for lifting purposes without the risk of tipping or upsetting the vehicle.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a lift of the type having four pillars and which is arranged so that it also allows the lifting of an automobile while leaving accessible nearly all the lower surface of the chassis or body to which are attached the parts which may require maintenance or repair work.

The lift in accordance with the invention is characterized by the fact that each of the fixed pillars guides a slide block on which is articulated an arm provided with a support, the four slide blocks of the lift being actuated by means of a single control which makes them rise or fall simultaneously and the same distance within the four pillars.

In accordance with another characteristic of this invention, locking means are provided to lock the articulated arm in any position which may be desirable to lift an automobile having a given wheel base.

In accordance with one embodiment of this invention, each support is mounted so as to be rotatable on a slide block which is itself slidably mounted in a groove of the corresponding articulated arm.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, each support is rotatably mounted on a slide block which can slide on a lever which itself is slidably and rotatably mounted on the articulated arm.

Also, in accordance with this invention, the four slide blocks positioned in the four pillars of the lift are tied together in pairs by two cables passing over suitably located pulleys, the two cables being actuated simultaneously by a pulley mounted on a piston which may be bydraulically or pneumatically actuated.

Other incidental objects and characteristics of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of this specification and an inspection of the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic top view of a lift in accordance with the invention showing the means to control the four slide blocks on which the articulated arms are mounted;

FIGURE 2 is a side view, partly in cross-section, of a slide block provided with its articulated arm;

FIGURE 3 is a top view, partly in cross-section, corresponding to that of FIGURE 2; and

ICC.

FIGURE 4 is a side view, partly in cross-section, showing the mounting of the articulated arm on the corresponding slide block.

Referring now to the drawings, the lift comprises four slide blocks, shown in FIGURE 1 by the reference numer'als 1, 2, 3 and 4, each of the slide blocks (slide block 1 for instance) being slidably mounted inside each of the four pillars (such as pillar 6). The four pillars are rectangularly disposed, and the slideblocks slide in the pillars on the live friction rollers 5 as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3.

The inside face of each pillar is provided with a slot 7 in which fits a support 8 having a sleeve portion 9.

A pin 10 is pivotally mounted into the sleeve 9, the

pin 10 being attached to the end of an arm 11. The arm 11, in the embodiment shown, is provided with a groove 12 in which is mounted a slide block 13. A support 14 is rotatably mounted into the slide block 13.

The arm 11 can rotate horizontally with respect to the slide block 1 which supports it. The position of the support 14 may be moved with respect to the pin 10 of the arm 11. With a lift comprising four pillars thus equipped, it is possible to lift an automobile or other vehicle by the four points of the inferior surface or its chassis or body which are most appropriate for such a lifting operation, while leaving a free access to all the parts of this surface which may be the object of a maintenance or repair operation.

In order to lock the arm 11 with respect to the slide block 1 in the position in which it has been brought in order to lift an automobile, a crown of balls 15 is interposed between the surface 16 of the arm 11 and the upper surface of the sleeve 9 facing it. These balls fit into recesses provided in the surface 16 of the arm 11 and in the upper surface of the sleeve 9 facing it. When these two surfaces are brought together, the balls serve to lock them together so as to prevent the rotation of arm 11. When these two surfaces are separated sufficiently the balls do not fit tightly into the recesses and arm 11 is free to rotate with respect to sleeve 9. Further, a spring 17 is positioned between the base of a shoulder formed on the pin 10 and a cap 18 which may be threaded and closes the lower end of the sleeve 9. The distance that the arm 11 may be lifted to allow its rotation with respect to the sleeve 9 is limited by a nut 19 threaded onto the threaded end 20 of the small portion of the pin 10.

The simultaneous control of the four slide blocks 1, 2, 3 and 4 is effected by attaching to the upper face of each of the slide blocks the end of a cable such as 22 (FIG- URES 1 and 2). As shown in FIGURE 1, a cable 22 which goes over pulleys 23, 24, 25 and 26 ties together the two slide blocks 1 and 2; while a second cable 27 which goes over pulleys 28 and 29 ties together the two slide blocks 3 and 4. The two cables 22 and 27 are worked by a pulley 30 which is mounted on the free end of a piston 31 positioned inside a cylinder 32 and actuated pneumatically or hydraulically. By means of this single control of slide blocks 1, 2, 3 and 4, it is possible to make each slide block rise or fall by a distance which is the same for each of the four pillars.

In another embodiment the support 14, instead of being mounted directly on the articulated arm 11, may be slidably mounted on an auxiliary arm 33 as shown in FIGURE 3, the auxiliary arm 33 being pivoted on a pivot 34 which is itself slidably mounted in the groove 12 of the arm 11.

Other modifications of this invention may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A lift for automobiles and the like, comprising four in Patented Oct. 3,1961

vertical pillars, each of said pillars having a vertically movable block mounted thereon, means to actuate said blocks simultaneously, an arm pivotally mounted on each of said blocks and pivotable in a horizontal plane, an

auxiliary arm slidably and pivotally mounted on each of said arms and movable in a horizontal plane, a support slidably and pivotally mounted on each of said auxiliary arms, and locking means to lock said arms into fixed positions.

2. A lift according to claim 1 wherein a sleeve is mounted on each of said slide blocks, each of said arms are provided with a pin fitting in said sleeve, and wherein said locking means comprise a crown of balls positioned between said sleeve and said arm.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Weaver Nov. 16, 1937 Walker Apr. 22, 1952 Thompson Sept. 30, 1952 Peterson Nov. 13, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Sweden June 5, 1956 France Mar. 25, 1957 

